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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "ibrahim.giwa@voila.fr" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Ibrahim Giwa <ibrahim.giwa@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ibrahim.giwa@voila.fr
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:40:37 +0530 (IST)
Subject: COMMUNICATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLEl
>From the Desk of Dr. Ibrahim Giwa
Manager Bill and Exchange Dept
African Development Bank (ADB)
Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise. I am the bill
and Exchange manager in African Development Bank .I Hope that you will
not expose or betray this trust and confident that i am about to
Repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.
I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $12.6 million
Immediately to your account. The money has been dormant for years in
our Bank here without any body coming for it. I want to release the
money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer(the owner
Of the account) who died a long with his supposed next of kin in an
air Crash since July 2000.
I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned
fund. This is the reason why i contacted you, so that the bank can
release the money to you as the nearest person to the deceased
customer. Please i will like you to keep this proposal as a top secret
and delete if you are not interested.
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send you full details on how the
Business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the
Above mentioned sum. Acknowledge receipt of this message in acceptance
of my mutual business endeavour by furnishing me with the following:
1. Your Full Names and Address.
2. Direct Telephone and Fax numbers
Please reply in my private email address (ibrahim.giwa@voila.fr)
security and confidential reasons.
Dr. Ibrahim Giwa
African Development Bank,
Burkina Faso West Africa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
